1957

Two classmates who were recently in the news were Brad Curtis and Erich Kunzel. Brad was featured in a number of San Francisco Bay Area television news programs and on "NBC Nightly News" as a result of his having brought 700 Police Activities League kids to a Giants baseball game at Candlestick Park. Brad had obtained the tickets by correctly answering some 2,300 questions in a weekly baseball trivia game. One newscaster referred to him as "a big kid with a big heart." Aww right!!

Erich appeared in USA Today in living color with a flag bow tie and an illuminated baton. The story was about how the Boston Pops' concept of light, symphonic music in informal festive settings has been picked up by virtually every city with a symphony orchestra. The funds raised by the Pops concerts help under- write the normal, heavier symphony fare. Erich conducts Pops seasons in eight different cities and was quoted as saying, "You can do well in almost anything you want."

A frequent and much appreciated contributor to this column is Os Skinner, the secretary of the Dartmouth class of 1928. His latest contribution was a New YorkTimes clipping covering the wedding of Bob Ohl's daughter Maya '82. Maya obtained a master's at the Fletcher School at Tufts. Her husband, Kevin, is an Annapolis graduate who had just earned a master's at the Kennedy School at Harvard and is on his way to flight school in Pensacola, Fla. If that weren't exotic enough, Maya's mother, Irina, is the daughter of the late Admiral Nebolsine of the Imperial Russian Navy. I hope Bob keeps us posted on the career paths of Maya and Kevin.

On the subject of children, returning to Hanover for this year's graduation of their offspring were Messieurs Pasco, Reilly,Rotman, Schneider, Searby, and, I believe, Gordon Bjork (although at press time I was not able to confirm). My apologies to anybody I missed.

Another recent returnee was class agent Hanny Mason, who represented us at the Class Officers Weekend. Hanny came away from the experience enormously impressed with the students and optimistic regarding the future of the College, including the sports program!!

Here are some recent celebrants of 50th birthdays. Kim Alfaro turned 50 and simultaneously formed his own advertising and public relations firm which will specialize in high technology, business-to- business, and viniculture industries. His career has been spent in public relations, both on the agency side at blue chips such as Ketchum and J. Walter Thompson and on the client side with Amdahl and Fairchild Semiconductors. On his big day his wife, Susan, treated him to "27,000 of the most beautifully assembled, cooked, and presented calories at Bruce Le Favour's fabulous Rose Et Le Favour's restaurant in St. Helena, Calif."

Rip Rippey writes from Colorado that he turned 50 with 27 holes of golf, three sets of singles, and a black-tie "roast" staged by wife Sally. He says for the next two days he felt at least 60 years old before snapping back to a youthful 49.

Dave Roush started his celebration in Paradise Valley, Ariz., his winter quarters, before going to Italy and Spain for three weeks. The Day itself was spent in Rome; then he returned to his summer home in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for festivities with four other couples from California and Arizona. Recent visitors were Meland Mary Britton.

Stan Stark spent a week of celebrating among family and friends at his home in Albuquerque with a conclusion that 1935 was a vintage .year. He has sent the class a birthday check for $100 with a request that we figure out the right pocket for it. Any suggestions?

Peter Stone was the focus of a surprise birthday party at his home in Wilmington, Del., with music, entertainment, and friends recalling "funny incidents" from Peter's past. There are a number of '57s in the Wilmington area, and he stands ready to work up a mini-reunion if sufficiently provoked.

Finally, for all of us who did not do anything really momentous on the big day, here is a quote from a funny letter by Bob Young: "I was not pitoned and roped to the sheer vertical face of the Eiger or El Capitan. I was not caught in the Sargasso Sea, halfway through an around-the-world sail. Neither was I on my way to Stockholm to accept a Nobel Peace Prize. Nor was I planning a leveraged buy-out of a Big Board equity or paddling up the headwaters of the Orinoco in a dugout, with curare-tipped arrows zizzing past my Banana Republic safari hat. By now, you may spot a trend of accomplishments narrowly missed, honors forfeited, risks not taken, and triumphs deferred. That's okay because I would rather have been doing what, in fact, I was doing on my 50th, on March 27th. I was having a quiet dinner at the Brambles restaurant in Cambria, Calif., (near Hearst Castle). We had a really nice time, and I got sleepy on my one glass of Zinfandel, having just driven down Route 1 from Carmel and Big Sur. It was as satisfying a birthday as I can remember!!" Now everyone else, please write your thoughts at 50!!

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